Driver chip

ABSTRACT

A driver chip is provided. The driver chip includes a light-emitting module and a wafer substrate. The light-emitting module has multiple pins. The wafer substrate has a first surface and a second surface. The wafer substrate includes a photodiode, an image sensing circuit, and a light-emitting driving circuit. The photodiode is disposed on the second surface of the wafer substrate. The image sensing circuit is disposed in the wafer substrate and is electrically connected to the photodiode to drive the photodiode. The light-emitting driving circuit is disposed in the wafer substrate, and is electrically connected to the multiple pins of the light-emitting module via multiple connection units on the first surface of the wafer substrate to drive the light-emitting module.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the priority benefit of U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 63/341,423, filed on May 13, 2022. The entirety of the above-mentioned patent application is hereby incorporated by reference herein and made a part of this specification.

BACKGROUND Technical Field

The disclosure relates to a chip, and particularly relates to a driver chip.

DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART

Generally, the image sensing circuit is disposed as a chip (such as a CMOS image sensor (CIS)), and the light-emitting driving circuit (such as a light-emitting diode (LED) driver) and the light-emitting module (such as an LED light-emitting module) are disposed as another chip. In other words, if an electronic element having the image sensing function and the light-emitting function is to be realized, then traditionally, the two chips have to be packaged. As a result, the traditional disposition method leads to high manufacturing cost, excessive volume, and even high power consumption of the electronic element.

SUMMARY

The disclosure provides a driver chip, which can integrate a light-emitting module on a wafer substrate.

The driver chip of the disclosure includes a light-emitting module and a wafer substrate. The light-emitting module has multiple pins. The wafer substrate has a first surface and a second surface. The wafer substrate includes a photodiode, an image sensing circuit, and a light-emitting driving circuit. The photodiode is disposed on the second surface of the wafer substrate. The image sensing circuit is disposed in the wafer substrate and is electrically connected to the photodiode to drive the photodiode. The light-emitting driving circuit is disposed in the wafer substrate, and is electrically connected to the multiple pins of the light-emitting module via multiple connection units on the first surface of the wafer substrate to drive the light-emitting module.

Based on the above, in the wafer substrate of the driver chip of the disclosure, the image sensing circuit and the light-emitting driving circuit may be formed, so as to realize integrating the light-emitting module on the wafer substrate.

In order to make the above-mentioned features and advantages of the disclosure more comprehensible, the following embodiments are described in detail together with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic structural view of a driver chip according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of an apparatus disposed with a driver chip according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a schematic circuit view of a driver chip according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

In order to make the content of the disclosure more comprehensible, the following embodiments are taken as examples in which the disclosure may indeed be implemented. In addition, wherever possible, elements/components/steps using the same reference numerals in the drawings and embodiments represent the same or similar parts.

FIG. 1 is a schematic structural view of a driver chip according to an embodiment of the disclosure. Referring to FIG. 1 , a driver chip 100 includes a wafer substrate 110 and a light-emitting module 120. The light-emitting module 120 may be integrated (packaged) on the wafer substrate 110. FIG. 1 is a side view of the driver chip 100. In this embodiment, the wafer substrate 110 has a first surface S1 and a second surface S2. The wafer substrate 110 includes a light-emitting driving circuit 112, a photodiode 113, and an image sensing circuit 114. The photodiode 113 may be disposed on the second surface S2 of the wafer substrate 110. The photodiode 113 is formed on or inside the wafer substrate 110. Multiple photodiodes 113 may form a sensing pixel array, and are formed on the second surface S2 of the wafer substrate 110 to receive a sensed light 101 toward a first direction. In this embodiment, the image sensing circuit 114 is disposed in the wafer substrate 110 and is close to (adjacent to) the second surface S2 of the wafer substrate 110 to be electrically connected to the photodiode 113. The image sensing circuit 114 may drive the photodiode 113 to operate the photodiode 113 to sense the sensed light 101 toward the first direction to obtain a sensed result. In this embodiment, the photodiode 113 and the image sensing circuit 114 of the wafer substrate 110 may form a back side illumination (BSI) sensor. In this embodiment, the first surface S1 of the wafer substrate 110 is adjacent to a device layer of the wafer substrate 110, and the second surface S2 of the wafer substrate 110 is adjacent to a substrate layer of the wafer substrate 110.

In this embodiment, the light-emitting driving circuit 112 is disposed in the wafer substrate 110 and is close to (adjacent to) the first surface S1 of the wafer substrate 110. The light-emitting driving circuit 112 may be electrically connected to multiple pins 121 of the light-emitting module 120 via multiple connection units 111 on the first surface S1 of the wafer substrate 110 to drive the light-emitting module 120. The connection units 111 may include routings and through silicon vias (TSVs), and may also include, for example, wires or connecting circuits, and may also be, for example, realized in a redistribution layer (RDL) process structure, but the disclosure is not limited thereto. The pins 121 may, for example, include metal pins, or be realized in the form of solder balls, and the disclosure is not limited thereto.

In this embodiment, the light-emitting module 120 may be a light-emitting diode (LED) module, and includes, for example, a light-emitting pixel array formed by multiple LEDs arranged in an array. In this embodiment, the light-emitting driving circuit 112 may drive the light-emitting module 120 to generate an emitted light 102 toward a second direction, for example, to provide an image. The light-emitting module 120 may be used to provide a display image in the second direction. In this embodiment, the first direction may be opposite to the second direction. The first surface S1 and the second surface S2 are respectively positioned on two opposite sides of the wafer substrate 110. In other words, a light-emitting direction of the light-emitting module 120 is opposite to a sensing direction of the photodiode 113.

Therefore, the driver chip 100 of the disclosure may integrate the light-emitting driving circuit 112 and the image sensing circuit 114 in a chip, and the light-emitting driving circuit 112 and the image sensing circuit 114 may share a part of functional circuits, or some functional circuits may integrate the functions of the light-emitting driving circuit 112 and the image sensing circuit 114. In this way, the driver chip 100 simultaneously having a light-emitting driving function and an image sensing function can be small in size, low in cost, and low in power consumption. Moreover, the driver chip 100 can be adapted to be integrated on a portable device based on the above-mentioned advantages. In an embodiment, the driver chip 100 may be, for example, applied to smart glasses.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a device disposed with a driver chip according to an embodiment of the disclosure. Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 , FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a pair of smart glasses. As shown in FIG. 2 , the driver chip 100 may be formed, for example, on at least a part of the glass of the smart glasses, and is used to receive the sensed light 101 and generate the emitted light 102. For example, a user may wear the smart glasses, and the smart glasses may sense a content in front of the user, and may simultaneously generate other image frames for the user to watch.

FIG. 3 is a schematic circuit view of a driver chip according to an embodiment of the disclosure. Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 3 , the driver chip 100 in FIG. 1 may further include related internal circuits of a driver chip 300 shown in FIG. 3 . In this embodiment, the driver chip 300 may include an input output interface 301, a timing control circuit 302, a power source generate circuit 303, a reference current generate circuit 304, a reference voltage generate circuit 305, a clock signal generate circuit 306, a gate driver 307, a source driver 308, a pixel driver 309, a column circuit 310, a light-emitting pixel circuit 311, and a sensing pixel circuit 312.

In this embodiment, the image sensing circuit 114 in FIG. 1 may include the pixel driver 309, the column circuit 310, and the sensing pixel circuit 312. The light-emitting driving circuit 112 in FIG. 1 may include the gate driver 307, the source driver 308, and the light-emitting pixel circuit 311. In this embodiment, the light-emitting driving circuit 112 and the image sensing circuit 114 may share the input output interface 301, the power source generate circuit 303, the reference current generate circuit 304, the reference voltage generate circuit 305, and the clock signal generate circuit 306.

In this embodiment, the input output interface 301 may be used to input and output data of the light-emitting driving circuit 112 and the image sensing circuit 114. The power source generate circuit 303 may be used to provide the same or different power signals to the light-emitting driving circuit 112 and the image sensing circuit 114. The reference current generate circuit 304 may be used to provide the same or different reference currents to the light-emitting driving circuit 112 and the image sensing circuit 114. The reference voltage generate circuit 305 may be used to provide the same or different reference voltages to the light-emitting driving circuit 112 and the image sensing circuit 114. The clock signal generate circuit 306 is used to provide the same or different clock signals to the light-emitting driving circuit 112 and the image sensing circuit 114.

In this embodiment, the timing control circuit 302 may integrate the timing control of the image sensing circuit 114 and the light-emitting driving circuit 112 to provide timing control signals required by the image sensing circuit 114 and the light-emitting driving circuit 112 respectively to the gate driver 307, the source driver 308, the pixel driver 309, and the column circuit 310.

In this embodiment, the gate driver 307 and the source driver 308 may provide a gate driving signal and a source driving signal to the light-emitting pixel circuit 311 to control the light-emitting pixel circuit 311 to drive the light-emitting module 120 to perform a light-emitting (display) function. The light-emitting pixel circuit 311 may, for example, include electronic elements such as related transistors, capacitors and/or resistors. In this embodiment, the pixel driver 309 and the column circuit 310 may provide a sensing driving signal and a column control signal to the sensing pixel circuit 312 to control and drive the photodiode 113 to perform a light (image) sensing function. Therefore, the driver chip 100, 300 can effectively realize the light-emitting driving function and the image sensing function, and has the effects of small in size, low in cost, and low in power consumption.

In summary, the driver chip of the disclosure can simultaneously have the light-emitting driving function and the image sensing function, and can realize having the effects of small in size, low in cost, and low in power consumption. The driver chip of the disclosure can be adapted to be integrated on a portable device.

Although the disclosure has been disclosed above with the embodiments, the embodiments are not intended to limit the disclosure. Persons with ordinary knowledge in the technical field may make some changes and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. The scope of protection of the disclosure should be defined by the appended claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A driver chip, comprising: a light-emitting module having a plurality of pins; and a wafer substrate having a first surface and a second surface, wherein the wafer substrate comprises: a photodiode disposed on the second surface of the wafer substrate; an image sensing circuit disposed in the wafer substrate and electrically connected to the photodiode to drive the photodiode; and a light-emitting driving circuit disposed in the wafer substrate and electrically connected to the plurality of pins of the light-emitting module via a plurality of connection units on the first surface of the wafer substrate to drive the light-emitting module.
 2. The driver chip according to claim 1, wherein the first surface and the second surface are respectively positioned on two opposite sides of the wafer substrate.
 3. The driver chip according to claim 1, wherein a light-emitting direction of the light-emitting module is opposite to a sensing direction of the photodiode.
 4. The driver chip according to claim 1, wherein the light-emitting module comprises a plurality of light-emitting diodes (LEDs).
 5. The driver chip according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of connection units comprise a plurality of routings and through silicon vias (TSVs).
 6. The driver chip according to claim 1, wherein the first surface of the wafer substrate is adjacent to a device layer of the wafer substrate, and the second surface of the wafer substrate is adjacent to a substrate layer of the wafer substrate.
 7. The driver chip according to claim 1, wherein the photodiode and the image sensing circuit of the wafer substrate form a back side illumination (BSI) sensor.
 8. The driver chip according to claim 1, wherein the image sensing circuit and the light-emitting driving circuit share an input output interface and a power source generate circuit.
 9. The driver chip according to claim 1, wherein the image sensing circuit and the light-emitting driving circuit share a clock signal generate circuit, and a timing control circuit integrates timing control of the image sensing circuit and the light-emitting driving circuit.
 10. The driver chip according to claim 1, wherein the image sensing circuit and the light-emitting driving circuit share a reference current generate circuit and a reference voltage generate circuit. 